Sleep is (Not) for the Weak
by Viet Devil
Summary: Stiles can't sleep, not with all of the nightmares that kept him up, and everyone's constant nagging for him to help (since they were too scared to ask Lydia). He just wants to sleep for a good, long time, no interruptions, nothing at all. Stiles finally fell asleep, but it was at the wheel of his Jeep.


**AN:** Hey guys! I'm going to drop this here. It's been sitting in my drive for a year or two and thought i might finish it up and post it.

* * *

Stiles lied there in his bed and stared at the ceiling. He inhaled deeply, and exhaled slowly.

He was so fucking exhausted. He was absolutely done with everything.

Well…

He wanted to be officially done with everything and just lie there and fall asleep in bed for eternity.

Of course with the life he has now, sleep time was ever so rare and kind. Between juggling his life to help the pack and keeping his grades up and trying to fix his relationship with his father and helping him with some cases he rarely gets any peaceful sleep. The help with several cans of energy drinks and coffee and Adderall, it keeps him up.

He took naps whenever he had the chance to, but Scott would yank him out of his free period and ask for help with either Allison or studying. He didn't mind much, the faster he helped him, the faster Scott went away and left him alone. He didn't blame Scott, he had a lot of stress to go through too.

The pack always came and found Stiles when they needed something and fuck, he didn't know why. If he was at full capacity, he would be flattered, but now he just wanted to be left alone for like, a long time. Don't get him wrong, he liked helping his friends and hated it when all of them start to make those huge wounded puppy eyes at him when he told them to go away with a hiss when they ask for help. He just wished that they could solve their own problems at times.

Lydia didn't do the wounded look, but just huffed and turn away. Jackson just acted a bit more of a douche. Whenever he refused, it's like they get to refuse help when he asked for it because he didn't help them, or they ignore him and get all mad. He has an honest, legit reason if he refused though, they did it to just get back at him. So in the end, he helped them with whatever they came to him for. It was mostly with homework though. They found him in a library for god's sake, use the books. Stiles was fine with research for supernatural things, whenever a problem came up for them.

Some nights Derek came through his window and asked (more like demand and put on a grrr face I'm the alpha) for him to research something and expected for there to be an answer by the next day. Sometimes when he can't find it fast enough, Derek would growl lowly and rush him faster.

Derek also has a mandatory meeting time and everyone is expected to show up. Nobody had officially made him pack, because he thought that it was a wolf thing. He thought that he was considered baggage from Scott. So when he doesn't go to the meetings, Derek actually paused it and came to his house and dragged him back to the forest where they held them and resumed after depositing Stiles right next to where he stood. He would be touched, if he wasn't so exhausted. So he doesn't protest and just started showing up every time there was a meeting.

Derek seemed satisfied.

* * *

There were times that he was too afraid to fall asleep.

He remembered the whole ordeal with Gerard, him getting kidnapped, getting beaten with Boyd and Erica having to see the entire thing. He shivered for a moment. He had nightmares that kept him awake during those couple of weeks. It was torture for Stiles. He finally thought that he was free from the horrible nightmares and panic attacks when he managed to almost get over it, until the Alpha pack threat popped up and just ruined everything for him.

During the whole Alpha pack mess, Stiles managed to get himself beaten and kidnapped.

They weren't so friendly.

He remembered them, one woman and four men, two of which were twins, one was the bulk and the other was blind, seeing from the type of glasses he wore and his cane. The woman and one of the twins were keen on using Stiles as their personal pet. They tied his wrists up and gagged him when he wouldn't shut up with all the smart ass comments he made and the whimpering and crying. They then stripped him down into his boxers, held him down on an old bed, clawing into his skin everywhere, thankfully not deep enough to turn him. They broke a couple of his fingers and toes just for fun.

Two of them, a woman and one of the twins, threw him on the floor in another room, shutting it behind them. When Stiles recovered, the guy bent down and stroked his sides, giving no warning when he gave a squeeze and broke two of his ribs. The woman strutted up to him slowly, raised one of her bare feet and pressed her large toe on a rib below a broken on the left, sinking in her sharp claw as she broke another rib. She grinned when Stiles cried out again.

They stopped when they heard a very fierce snarl and angry howls following suit. The woman sneered that their fun time was over when Derek and his pack came. They left him whimpering in pain. Both of them jumped out the window in an attempt to flee but got caught. Stiles couldn't tell who got them, but didn't have the energy to move. He lied there half curled up on the floor when they found him.

After he had gotten medical attention, the pack took him back to the hale house and they couldn't even do anything to cover up the apparent stench of the Alpha pack off him with their own without hurting Stiles even more. Isaac was the one who came forward and placed a hand on his, leeching the pain away from Stiles. He was thankful that the pack carefully came and did the same. Before falling asleep, he realized he was carefully placed in Derek's lap, in his arms.

The memory from that night crept into his dreams and turned his peaceful dreams into constant nightmares.

Stiles snapped out of his thoughts and waited in his bed, half afraid to fall asleep and mostly because all the crap he put inside his body lately to keep awake. Stiles turned from side to side, trying every possible position to fall asleep in, but couldn't. His leg wouldn't stop bouncing up and down. His brain was itching to be drowned in something. Grumbling, he pushed himself off bed and turn on his desk lamp and started doing more homework for the future.

Thank god for syllabuses. This way, Stiles could be ahead in his school work and not worry about it when the time comes.

"God I'm so desperate to fall asleep that I'll do fucking homework for the next two weeks," he mumbled.

He managed to finish the rest of the homework for two weeks and decided to stop there. He glanced over at the clock, reading 3:54 AM. He sighed and put it away, opening his laptop and doing some more research on random supernatural things to better be equipped for the future.

He scrolled through pages and pages of about eighty percent of bullshit, and twenty percent of helpfulness. He glanced at the clock, reading about two hours later and decides to drop it and head for the shower. No point in sleeping now since school was but two hours away.

Of course to just screw with him, the warmth from the shower seemed to almost lull him to sleep. Stiles seriously considered to just fall asleep there but managed to snap out of it by turning off the hot water completely and left the cold one on for it to shock him awake. Didn't really work though. He finished drying himself off and wrapped a towel around his waist and went to his room to change. He shivered, thinking that the cold shower was too much. His eyes started to droop when he was pulling on his clothes. He opened his drawers and pulled out some concealer and applied under his eyes so anyone couldn't see the horrible bags. He needed to thank the girls for helping him buy it. He gathered his things and shoved it in his backpack before heading downstairs.

He dived downstairs to make some fresh coffee for his father and himself. He discovered that he didn't have the appetite to eat anything lately, so he skipped breakfast and only made some for his dad and left it wrapped up on the counter. He stood there finishing his coffee when he felt a text from his phone. He pulled it out, seeing it was from Scott.

**Scotty-boy:**

**Dude. Need ride to schl, get me plz?**

He stared at the phone when it started getting all blurry. He blinked for a minute, trying to compose himself. He quickly typed in an okay and tucked his phone back inside. Stiles leaned over the sink and started to puke up the coffee he had downed, as well as all the other liquid contents in him. Then the one thing he hated was dry heaving started for a bit until he finally got it under control.

"Gross," He said in disgust as he turns on the garbage disposal to clear the sink up. He washed his mouth out in the sink. As he was turning off the sink, he heard his father come downstairs.

"Hey kiddo— you okay?" he asked as he saw his son's pale complexion and trembling hands.

"Taking a cold shower in the morning isn't such a good idea," he said as he shook his head. "I'm fine."

"You know, I'm not dumb. I can tell something is wrong. Are ya sick? You seem a bit pale. I mean, if you are I can take the day off and we can head to the clinic," he said to his son.

"I'm fine dad, jeez. Probably caught a cold or something."

"Stiles."

"Look, I'm running late, I gotta pick Scott up," he said as he grabbed his keys and started walking towards the door. "Don't worry it's nothing. If I feel worse, I'll go and ask Melissa later, alright?" He added when he saw the worried face on his father. "I made some coffee and breakfast lying on the counter. See ya!" Stiles smirked as he closed the door.

Stiles quickly jammed his keys into his door and unlocked it. He threw his backpack in the back seat and started the jeep up. He was still cold, even through all the layers of clothes. He turned the knob of his heater and set it up high. He moaned at the pleasant bliss from the heat blasting at him.

"Oh my god that feels so fucking better," he said as he groaned out. He laid his head on the steering wheel, feeling the wave of nausea hit him back. He felt like passing out right there. He took a couple of deep breaths and began to back up and drive off.

Stiles managed to reach an intersection before he felt incredibly sleepy again, like all the weeks without sleep seemed to have dropped down on him tenfold. His eyes felt like lead weights were hanging onto them. Every time he tried to snap them back open, his vision blurred more and more. Breathing started getting a bit worse as he struggles to grip the wheel properly. The last thing he remembered was headlights coming at him and seeing the glass shatter and feeling gravity shift before he blacked out.

* * *

Scott paced back and forth. Where the hell was Stiles? He pulled his phone out to text him before a familiar car pulled up in front of him.

"Need a ride?"

"Allison!" he smiled. "Yes, yes, yes." he pulled his phone to text Stiles he got a ride with Allison, leaving a smiley face. He jumped in and Allison drove off quickly.

"Were you waiting for Stiles?" She asked.

"Yea, but he never showed up. Guess he fell asleep." he glanced at the clock. "And I'm pretty sure no matter how fast we go, we aren't going to make it in time." He groaned, knowing he was so going to get in trouble for this. He heard Allison chuckle beside him.

"We have five minutes left Scott, that's plenty of time. I know a shortcut." She smiled before speeding off onto another road.

"You're so awesome." he smiled.

They managed to actually make it there in time, with Allison hazardously pulling up to a parking spot before another car was about to take it. She grinned, recognizing that the car belonged to Jackson with Lydia in the passenger seat. She laughed as she saw her glare at her and then Jackson for not getting it fast enough. "Come on, need to hurry," she said, getting out of the car and starting to run, with Scott and finally Jackson and Lydia in tow. They managed to reach to class a minute or two after the bell rang.

"Guess what?" Allison whispered.

"What?"

"My dad will be gone until tomorrow." She quietly chimed. She wanted to laugh at Scott's expression.

Throughout the rest of the day, all Scott thought was about Allison. Her name repeated over and over in his head. He headed over to Chemistry and sat with Allison.

"Somebody is happy." Lydia said as she walked through the door.

"How did you know I was?"

"You keep smiling like a dumbass." Jackson snapped, still mad about this morning.

"You're just jealous that you aren't getting any tonight." snickered Erica as she waltz on in with Isaac. Allison laughed when she said that.

"Shut. Up." he growled.

"Behave Jackson." Lydia said from her phone. She was most likely on Instagram, scrolling through her feed.

The rest of the class came in, along with Mr. Harris. He did his usual scan of the class. "Reyes, Lahey, you're not in this class, get out." he said.

Erica and Isaac slumped slightly as they walked out the room, back to their original class. Mr. Harris scanned again before his eyebrows pinched together before he raised one of them up.

"I see Mr. Stilinski isn't here with us today." The pack finally realized that Stiles wasn't present. "Mr. McCall, where is Stilinski?" he asked as he crossed his arms.

"Uh, he was supposed to pick me up this morning but he never came. I guess he fell back asleep?" he assumed.

Mr. Harris sighed and rolled his eyes before turning to the white board and starting today's lesson. Scott slid his hand under his desk and took out his phone to text Stiles.

**Sent:**

**Dude where r u?**

**Dude.**

**Stiles?**

**Wake up Stiles!**

**DUDE.**

**Srsly need to lay off the energy drinks, they give you major crashes.**

Scott was getting frustrated that Stiles wasn't replying. He heard Lydia make a noise in her throat. Scott glanced over at Lydia, who was staring intensely at her phone. Her eyebrows pinched together. Scott glanced back at front, noticing Harris was writing on the board.

"Lydia, what's wrong?" Jackson asked in concern.

"We need to leave now," she said, shoving things into her bag along.

"It's the middle of class—" Scott asked.

Lydia turned to him and glared. "We need to leave, now."

"What is it now?" Harris scowled at the ruckus. "You can't jus—"

"It's an emergency." she flipped her at him when she passed by the teacher. The pack, sensing his panic started shoving their things and left, ignoring what Harris was shouting at them.

They caught up with her in the hall.

"Stiles crashed his car." she told them. She took out her phone and showed them a picture. "A friend of mine took that this morning and posted it on Instagram." she handed it to Scott. He didn't say anything. He took one look and passed the phone to someone else.

Scott heard heels clacking quickly. When they turned the hall, Erica and Isaac were coming from another hall. "Erica!" he called out. She turned to him, a sad look on her face that didn't suit her. Isaac was sad as well.

"Boyd sent me a photo. The crash caused a traffic jam and the bus Boyd was on," Erica said when they caught up with her and Isaac. "He said he took off and was on his way to the hospital to meet up with Derek."

The jeep was completely totaled. Scott couldn't recognize it anymore. His stomach flipped, wanting to throw up but he pushed the feeling away. The pack wasted no time and took off in their cars.

**Isaac:**

**We're on our way.**

**Derek:**

**Boyd and I are already ther**e.

* * *

Melissa looked up to see her son and his friends running towards her.

"Scott—you're supposed to be in school," she said, voice shaking from the past few hours.

"Where is he?!" he asked, or rather almost growled. The pack could practically smell Stiles blood very strongly from her.

"He's in recover Scott. You need to calm down." She tried to hush him. "Derek and the sheriff are in the waiting room. Go there and wait with them."

"—but mom—"

"Go!" she demanded.

The pack headed towards the waiting area. Derek looked up to them, face contorted in pain as he was sitting with Stiles' father.

"What happened?" Erica asked her voice almost cracking. They all sat around Derek and the Sheriff. Allison made her way to sit beside him and placed her hand on his in a comforting manner.

"…this morning…I knew something was off. I had a gut feeling that something wasn't so right with Stiles." He took a moment to compose himself. "I woke up today and he looked…pale. He was shaky and I was sure I heard him threw up before he noticed I came down."

He let out a shaky breath. "He looked exactly like her…the first time I noticed when she first got Ill. I thought that…he was going to turn out like his mother. I didn't want to scare him so I suggested we go to the clinic to see if he was alright, but he didn't want to."

He paused for a moment to collect himself. "When he left for school, I heard a dispatch through my radio. Car crash. Intersection. Red Truck. Blue Jeep. Two victims, one in his mid-thirties, the other, a teenager." He listed away. "I had a gut feeling that I wished it wasn't what I thought it was. I heard one of the officer's said—isn't that the sheriff's kid?" He looked down. "As soon as I heard, I turned the car completely around and raced to the hospital." They heard Melissa come in.

"Mom what happened?" Scott asked.

She sighed, settling herself down in a seat next to him.

"Two ambulances came. One was Stiles; the other was the one that crashed into him. The other man didn't sustain injuries as much as Stiles did. He only suffered a busted forehead and a sprained wrist." Derek clenched his fist when he heard it. "He's still recovering, but we got his lab reports back and he was under the influence. His alcohol levels are too high, above the legal limit."

"His ass is in jail for putting my son in there." The sheriff hissed out.

Too bad he won't be in jail. Derek thought to himself. Because I'm going to slaughter him.

"What about Stiles?" Scott asked.

She was quiet for a moment. "I couldn't tell what injuries he quite had. There was a too much blood. There was a large gash on his head, his left shoulder was dislocated, arm broken, hip bone dislocated." She shook her head. "That's all I could see."

"Come on." Melissa said, leading the way. With all the different scents and chemicals and etc, trying to find Stiles was difficult. She led them further into the hospital, into the ICU where she finally found his room; name was not present at all on the door.

"Aren't the names supposed to be on the doors?" Jackson asked.

"To protect the patient's identity, they leave it off. Particularly when you're the Sheriff's kid too." Lydia answered, rather than Melissa. "Since he's the sheriff in all, they made sure to leave it off."

The sheriff nodded. "Being the sheriff's kid, it always doesn't have all the perks." He said grimly, not having enough patience, he went on and opened the door. He walked in a bit and stood by Stiles, staring quietly, fear in his eyes.

They all scrambled in, letting Melissa close the door. She went on and closed the blinds to give them more privacy.

None of the werewolves wanted to get too close to Stiles. The only ones who were close to him was his father, Melissa, Allison, and Lydia. It was almost like if they got too close, they would hurt him even worse than he is now. Now…he seemed too fragile.

It was real quiet. Only the sound of Stiles breathing with the help of a machine, along with the beat of his heart, and the monitors beeping were heard. It was too quiet. They didn't like it at all. Stiles was always managing to talk nonstop, always managing to be loud and flailing everywhere. Now, he was too still and too quiet.

They looked at him. He had a breathing tube in him, helping him breathe due to the amount of damage to his ribs. His head was wrapped around in gauze. His broken leg was in a cast, leveled. Under the hospital gown, they could make out a large mess of bandages. Left shoulder had bandages on them, wrapped around his torso and more bandages that looped around his belly. Some gauze was on his right side, where the apparent removal of his appendix was at. Left arm was in a cast, hip and shoulder were under bandages.

Without all the clothing he usually wore, they noticed he was thin. They noticed that he was a few shades lighter than his normal skin color. He also had very dark bags under his eyes. They hadn't noticed it before. The skin showing had a lot of small scratches in it. Most of them on his left side, as the doctor mentioned.

The werewolves almost forget how fragile that humans could be.

The sheriff didn't realize that he was holding his breathe. He grabbed a chair and slowly exhaled, and slowly inhaled. "Oh….god dammit Stiles," he said, raising one of his fingers and brushing it across his cheek.

"Stiles was lucky." Melissa finally spoke through the silence. "All my years working here, I've seen plenty of victims of car crashes. All of them pretty severe. Stiles is one of the lucky ones that didn't receive any fatal injuries." She looked at the sheriff solemnly. "He's still here Jonathan. He's still with us. He's a miracle after all, remember?"

John nodded. "It's just…he reminds me of his mother so much right now."

"Miracle?" Allison asked carefully. Everyone looked curious.

The question gave him a slight chuckle, upon remembering. "When my wife was finally able to get pregnant, we had an ultrasound," he said, leaning a bit forward on the seat. "The doctor congratulated us." John stopped, rethinking. "Then something went wrong. " He clicked his tongue. "The doctor determined that the baby was stillborn and they had to induce her labor." He paused for a moment, stroking a finger on his bicep and stared at his son. He let out a grunt of laughter. "The whole room was quiet when they finished, they were about to leave us a moment with the baby…and leave it to Stiles to break the silence with the most high pitched scream they have ever heard and scare everyone half to death. The doctors were baffled on how that could've happened. It was a one in a million chance of survival." He sighed.

"Sheriff." The doctor came into the room. He paused, seeing the large group gathered.

The doctor sighed. "He's stable for now. His left shoulder was dislocated, left arm fractured. His hip bone was dislocated, left leg has a hairline fracture, but from reading the reports, the boy managed to swerve just enough to avoid full on collision. Damage would have been more fatal if it weren't for his seat belt that kept him in place and the basic large exterior of his jeep. That itself manage to basically muffle out all the other possible damage. The car hit him on the driver's side and both cars managed to flip over. He has three cracked ribs on his right, and one broken on his left. There's a large laceration on his head and we stitched that up." he looked a bit grim at that. "He had a large deep cut on his right side, near his hip. When we were cleaning that wound up, his appendix was removed due to a shard of metal impaling him on the side, nicking it." He paused to breathe.

"Is anything permanent?" John asked worryingly.

He shook his head slightly. "He lost a lot of blood. His healing process will be slow due to the severe lack of sleep he's been having apparently as well as his loss of weight. He lost a lot of nutrients that would help him heal. From where he is now, it's hard to tell. Which is why I am putting Mr. Stiles in an induced coma."

John looked at him and at Melissa. She was sad, didn't look at him in his eyes.

"It's the best way for him to fully recover, John," she said. "It's only for two to three weeks. His brain will heal along with the rest of his body while he is asleep during the time."

"What about afterwards? When he wakes up." Scott asked the doctor.

"He should be fine when he awakens, he'll still heal with his non head traumas." the doctor sighed. "Now, I'll let you have a moment alone while we prep up for him in a different room." the doctor turned to leave.

John slumped in the chair and ran a hand through his hair and back down his face. It was quiet, despite the machines around them makings sounds.

"John, he'll be okay. I'll make sure of It." Melissa walked over to him. "We all will." she rubbed his back comfortingly. "Stiles is stubborn, this won't knock him down."

* * *

Derek paced back and forth in the loft. He couldn't sit still, he couldn't even stand in the corner of Stiles' room to watch him. After about three consecutive days, John ordered him to go home and get some rest before he banned him from seeing Stiles.

So here he was, doing nothing. He already took a shower, ate, but he couldn't sleep. Not with Stiles still in his coma and the guilt eating at him. Maybe if he just asked someone else, or did his own research, but he doesn't know how Stiles can find the crap he finds and knew it was right. He knew Lydia would be able to decipher tons of old books of Deaton's, but it always took a lot of convincing and bribing for her to help. He didn't have time to stand there like an idiot in front of her so he just goes to the next person he knew would help him, few questions asked but he still did the research.

He hadn't known Stiles was having nightmares. He should've known when he smelled like energy drinks and rank of exhaustion. Stiles blew it off as him doing some research for papers. He assumed it was for school, but didn't know it was for the others too. Scott would occasionally go ask for his help, especially in his school work. A few others the same.

Derek stopped and sighed. He took his phone out of his pocket to check the time. The sheriff should be leaving the hospital by the time he gets there. Even if he was a dad, the sheriff still had to perform duties for the town, though Stiles was in great care of Melissa, so he had no worries at all.

He stopped by Stiles house before heading to the hospital and snuck into his bedroom. He smelled the sheriff in here, along with the scent of whiskey. He noticed all the energy drinks in a trash bag sitting in the corner. Some of his dirty laundry was around it, probably hiding it from his dad. Paper littered his desk, some on the floor also. Too many papers for a high schooler to have, too many energy drinks for one to need.

If only he still had the books from his family's library, If only those managed to still be intact after the fire, Stiles wouldn't need to do all of this research, they wouldn't be lost as to how to handle a situation.

The sheriff had been gone by the time he came. Nobody noticed, or rather cared. The sheriff probably gave an okay for Derek to come in anyways.

He closed the door quietly as the noise of silence filled the room. The machines beeped, Stiles heartbeat was normal. It wasn't beating fast as he usually heard it, though it was most likely due to the fact Stiles was always more of a spaz around him than others.

Stiles was still. As still as Derek could ever see him. Even when he would be sleeping, Stiles was never this still. He always found the boy's leg twitch, or he snored and he would smile and kiss his pillow. Derek would pop in momentarily sometimes whenever Stiles fell asleep, checking If he was alright. He would leave right about the moment Stiles' hand slipped down his pants.

It had been only about a few days since Stiles had been induced, but forever since he last heard Stiles' voice.

He missed his voice. He missed those amber whiskey eyes that lit up when the boy laughed.

Derek sat in the chair in the far corner, near the window, and waited.

The girls came and visited often after school. They came immediately, rather than waiting around and watching the guys practice at their lacrosse game. Erica would be the one to sit closest to him, Lydia sat near Stiles along with Allison.

Derek was honestly surprised that Lydia came in the morning and after school everyday to check up on Stiles. She would just glance at Derek when she came in. She talked to Stiles for a short while, something about returning the favor.

Scott came every day after he got out of practice. Isaac came every now and then along with Boyd, though Jackson didn't come often unless Lydia dragged him along.

He relaxed when he was alone again, sitting and staring at Stiles, hoping he'd wake up and complain about it.

A month had passed and Stiles hadn't woke up yet.

* * *

"Sheriff, please understand. The body will wake when it is ready. We put enough medicine for the patient, and its up to the body to decide when it is time to awaken. Due to your son's exhaustion and dehydration, it's taking time to heal. The medicine will wear out and pass once the body has healed. Now, I'm sorry. I have other patients to tend to." the doctor apologized and left the sheriff alone with Stiles.

They said three weeks, and it had been a month. Stiles hadn't woken up at all. He was getting thin and he knew Stiles would need to build his strength up again. John sighed as he rested his head in the palms of his hands.

John went and saw how bad the Jeep was in, and he knew that the poor thing was totaled. There was no way in reviving it again. He stepped away when he couldn't handle seeing the dried blood anymore.

Melissa wasn't surprised to hear the gossip about Stiles around the hospital. She never participated in any, most definitely not Stiles.

She was worried when Stiles hadn't woken up yet.

The staff gossiped, cooing and feeling sorry for Stiles. Some say it was his fault because he texted while he drove, claiming her daughter had seen it happen. Others say Stiles had been the one who was drunk.

Melissa heard everything, but didn't say anything. She knew it would only make things worse had she spoken out. It was unnecessary drama.

She gave the clear for Derek, along with the others as well. They were allowed into Stiles room, but anyone else would need to say a certain pass-code for them to meet Stiles. John said Stiles didn't know anyone long enough, or anyone outside his gang of friends at all.

Derek came everyday when he could. It honestly wasn't necessary for him to 'guard' Stiles, but the man was determined to do so. It was fine with her, and she knew he would call for help if anything happened.

* * *

Stiles didn't want to wake so soon. His body was in pain, and he still felt exhausted. Hell, he was afraid that if he moved, he would hurt even more. He could feel something down his throat, and something near his nostrils. Stiles opened his eyes, glad to find it wasn't blinded by light. He tried lifting his arms to get whatever that was down his throat out, but a flare of pain shot up and Stiles groaned, then choked. He started to panic, when two warm hands rested on his chest.

"Stiles, Stiles you need to calm down." Stiles looked to see it was Derek, who looked exhausted and worried. Derek reached above him to press something Stiles didn't care for.

Stiles just wanted whatever that was in his throat, out.

Stiles heard Melissa running in, followed by his Dad, who seemed equally as tired and worried as Derek.

"Stiles, can you understand me?" Melissa asked. He nodded. "You need to calm down so I can remove the tube, okay? Can you do that for me?" Stiles closed his eyes and relaxed. He found his hand clenched around Derek's. The man didn't seem to mind at all, and it made Stiles feel calm.

The feeling of the tube being pulled out was very discomforting. He managed to not gag at all.

"You're at the hospital, Stiles," Melissa said to him. He set a reassuring hand on his forehead. "Here." Melissa took a cup of water in her head from the bedside and held the straw to his mouth. Stiles drank the cup, he cleared his throat.

"What happened?" Stiles asked her.

"You were in a car crash." Melissa told him.

"Son, what's the last thing you remember?" his father asked him.

"I was driving, on my way to pick up Scott and I—" Stiles stopped, everything becoming a bit clearer now. "Oh no—I-I didn't—did I hit someone? A-are they—" Stiles started to panic. He could hear his heart rate on the monitor go up, beeping faster. "I'm sorry, i'm so, so, so, sorry-"

"Stiles, calm down." Melissa told him. "You need to calm down or I'm going to sedate you." she threatened him. Stiles stopped and swallowed. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths, which hurt.

"Stiles, what are you saying?" he asked his son.

"I-I'm so sorry Dad. I fell asleep at the wheel and I-i think i swerved. I don't know. Last thing I remember was driving to Scott's house and then nothing."

"You fell asleep at the wheel?!" both Derek and John exclaimed.

Stiles flinched and teared up. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," he said in a devastated voice. "The other per-"

"Enough!" Melissa quietly shouted. "You two, quiet." she pointed and glared at Derek and John. She turned back to Stiles, having a sincere face on. "Stiles, calm down. Have you not been having any sleep at all lately?" she asked him. Stiles stared at her, as if he was thinking on his answer, which worried her.

"Not much..."

"How long?"

Stiles shrugged, then regretting it as he winced in pain. "Just about an hour or two."

"A day?"

"...every three days." he heard Melissa groan out.

"Stiles, why haven't you been sleeping at all?" Stiles was reluctant to answer once again.

"I've been busy. Homework, papers, research. The usual." he paused and sighed out in defeat. "It's mostly the nightmares though. That's what keeps me up all the time...I can't go to sleep until I exhaust myself." Stiles looked down at his hands resting in his lap. He felt a hand run through his hair gently. "How long have I been asleep?" he looked up and tried to find a board that usually hung on the walls.

"The doctor put you into a coma for around three weeks." Melissa answered him. "That way you can recover faster." Melissa looked at him. "You've been asleep for a whole month honey, you had us so worried." Melissa sighed. "I need to go find the doctor and tell him you're awake. Until then," she turned her attention to John and Derek, "behave." she got up and left the room, giving one last glance at everyone.

"Stiles, you had me so worried," his dad said. He went over to sit next to Stiles.

"I'm so sorry Dad, I didn't mean to fall asleep at the wheel." he said rather quickly. "What about the other person I crashed into-are they okay? I-I'm not going to ja-"

"Stiles! Calm down, you're not going to jail. That other bastard that crashed into you was intoxicated. Had he not been, you would've crashed into a ditch with less severe injuries. The fault was on him and he's going to pay the price for it," his dad said to him. "Now tell me, why haven't you been sleeping? Why didn't you say anything at all, I would've gotten you help."

Stiles opened his mouth but didn't have any words to explain. He was glad the doctor chose that time to come in, Melissa following him from behind.

The doctor saw Derek. "Sir, if you would please step outside for a moment-"

"No, no he can stay," the sheriff said.

"Alright then. Well now, Stiles you had us worried there. I must say, it was a miracle that you came out alive from that car crash. I wouldn't have known what would happen if you had been hit head on."

"So what, I'm supposed to be dead?" Stiles said.

"More severely injured than you are now, or yes, dead. You saved most of the injuries by swerving at the right time. Your body was exhausted, and dehydrated as well. Do to the injuries you sustained on your lower abdomen, we removed you appendix, I'm sure you wouldn't miss it too much." the doctor listed off all the injuries he had, and no wonder Stiles was in pain when he tried to move. "Now, I still want you to rest more, it should take about a few more weeks for your arm and leg to heal up, as well as your rib. I want you to eat and gather your strength back up as well. I want to scan your head one last time and then you may leave tomorrow." the doctor smiled.

"Another night?" Stiles asked.

"Yes, just to be sure on everything. Now, what colors would you prefer for your casts?"

* * *

"No, Dad, I don't want to stay at home anymore, I feel fine!" Stiles pleaded. "Take me to school."

John rolled his eyes. He stood in the doorway of Stiles' room, cup of coffee in his hand. "You're arm and leg are in casts, Stiles."

"They feel fine! They're just trapped in plaster now and will forever stink and be more pale than I usually am. I will get a saw and cut it off myself."

"We don't own one anymore, you ran it over last summer, remember?"

"Are you denying me of my education?" Stiles said as if he was betrayed.

"Your friends brought over your homework you've missed when you were in the hospital." Yeah, but most of them were already done, his name printed and everything on it. Stiles didn't say anything about that part though, he was thankful the guys did it for him. "You'll be alright. Since everyone else is at school, I had someone else come look after you while I'm gone, and thank fully for free."

"You got me a baby sitter?! Dad!" Stiles shouted at his dad. John walked in and looked out the window.

"Oh look, he's pulling up now. Bye son, I'll see you later." the sheriff kissed his son on the forehead, giving him a gentle hug before he left out his bedroom door.

Stiles huffed, then whined. He couldn't believe his dad had him on house arrest, not even allowing him to go to school at all. His dad had stayed home during the time too, but as the sheriff he still had his own duties to fulfill.

He lifted his arm, examining his blue cast and read all of the hand-writings on it. When he had gotten home the day after, everyone was already in his room. His room was clean, notes were organized. There was a batch of flowers for Stiles that sat on his windowsill. His dad just rolled his eyes at the site while Stiles whined for Erica and Isaac to get off the bed. He remember hearing Jackson scoff and mutter something.

They talked...well, not really. Stiles was exhausted from the lack of energy, so while his dad ordered pizza for everyone, Stiles passed out. Everyone took that opportunity to sign his casts. Lydia glued pink rhinestones in her name, which seriously Stiles is slightly grateful nobody saw that. She also had done the same with the blue cast on his leg.

It had been a week and a half since then, and had gotten bed rest and everything. He was still thin, so Stiles had to keep up with his eating. His dad found a new excuse to eat food he couldn't eat.

He glanced at the clock. It was nine. Everyone was in school, so he couldn't bother them. Stiles sighed before hearing a knock on his door. He turned his head and found Derek standing there with a bag of food from Ihop.

"You're my baby sitter?" Stiles asked immediately. Derek rolled his eyes.

"If you want to put it like that." he held the bag of food up. "I thought you'd want some breakfast."

"Uh, thanks." Stiles sat up and swung his legs over the bed.

"How are you feeling?" Derek asked as he sat the food by Stiles.

"Bored, bored, deathly bored. I should never had wished for me to sleep forever because that's all I've been doing and Dad has been mother henning me when he stayed home. He won't let me go anywhere." Stiles groaned.

"It's not like you could, you don't have any car to drive anymore." Derek said, though regretted it when a flash of sadness appeared on Stiles' face. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that..."

"No, no It's fine. That thing was old anyways...it probably wouldn't have made it to Mexico if I tried." Stiles tried to chuckle, to laugh it off but it died a few seconds later.

Derek stared at Stiles. "C'mon, eat your breakfast before it goes cold."

Stiles mumbled something incoherent before he opened the bag and started eating. It was Strawberry-Banana French Toast, along with hash browns, eggs and bacon. "Dude did you get me some coffee?"

Derek glared. "No more caffeine for you Stiles." Derek handed him the cup of orange juice. Derek watched Stiles eat through half of it before the boy spoke again.

"They told me I was lucky. That I was supposed to have died in that terrible collision."

Derek glared. "They shouldn't say things like that to you." the boy just shrugged.

"I saw the pictures online and I kinda agree. Apparently quite a few people asked if I was still alive or not. Some say it was my fault, or that I was texting."

"Stiles you know that's bull."

"Then why do I still feel like it's my fault?" Stiles looked at Derek. "I fell asleep at the wheel, my jeep swerved and hit him."

"The asshole was drunk Stiles! He was going to hit you if you were going to fall asleep or not. If he wasn't there, you would've drove into a ditch. The fault was his, not yours." Derek walked over to Stiles and sat by him. "If it makes you feel any better, then yeah, maybe it was wrong for you to fall asleep at the wheel, and to not tell anyone you couldn't sleep, and for trying to do everything yourself."

"Nobody would leave me alone! I mean I don't mind but I just hate it when they look like I just crushed their dog. And I just thought the faster I help them the quicker they would leave me alone."

"They're teenagers, just like you. They're capable of dealing with homework themselves. I'm sure they'll get over it."

"They'll think I owe them if I don't help."

"Lydia needs to grow up. Along with Scott, and everyone else."

"Except for Danny." Stiles huffed through his nose.

"And...i'm sorry if I pushed you too hard to look stuff up for me and forcing you to go to the pack meetings." Derek said. Stiles looked at him, studying the man's face. "No one else can do it as good as you, and you don't really complain all too much like Lydia does if I ask her. Nobody isn't really into the meetings as much as you are." Derek sighed.

"I'm flattered and dude, I want to help you. If you need help, you can always ask me. It's just, everything else has been piling up on me and I don't know how to deal with it all, on top of the nightmares too."

"You haven't explained why you've been having them." Derek looked at the boy, who stopped talking and looked down at his food. "If you don't want to talk about it, it's fine. Though I think it's best if you let it out."

"Recently its of the alpha pack when they had me. It used to be Gerard, and the kamina and Matt."

"Usually a distraction would help me. Or I just try and fight them in my sleep." Derek offered.

"My distraction led me to my near death experience, so I think that's out of the question."

"I meant something else, Stiles. Focus your mind on something else." he heard the boy laugh out. Derek raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Are you telling me to get a hobby?" Stiles looked at him again. "Really of all the people, you're telling me this?" Derek glared really hard at Stiles. "Sorry, sorry uncalled for. Well, what do you suggest then? Cause I'm sure doing school work isn't helping at all either."

"After you remove your casts, you're gonna have to regain your strength back," Derek said.

"Derek Hale, are you offering to train me?" Derek nodded. "I am getting tired of being all gangly all the time and maybe I can break Jackson's nose this time around." Stiles grinned. "Lydia would like that." Stiles noticed the dejected look on Derek's face after he mentioned Lydia. "Hey," he said, elbowing Derek "I would love to train with you. Maybe you can teach me a few moves too." Stiles wondered.

"No. Just working up your strength for now."

"Aw, c'mon please? I want to know how to defend myself in future cases?"

"Stiles, you just got out of the hospital I don't want to send you back."

"Go easy on me! Fine, teach me self defense then."

"You can ask Allison about that, she knows more than I do." Derek sighed.

"I want to learn it from you, dope." Stiles grinned. "C'mon we can start with strength training and work our way up. What do you say, big guy?"

"Fine. We can start on Saturday."

"What? No! Today is Monday! Why not tomorrow? No more waiting dude."

"Stiles, you still need to eat more and gain more nutrients." Derek dug something from his back pocket. "Which is why I stopped to get you these." he threw them at Stiles.

Stiles caught them and examined the packet. "What, dude are you going to make me drink Vitamin and Protein shakes? Aren't those gross?" Stiles made a face.

"Stiles."

"Fine. No chocolate flavor?"

"Trust me, those taste gross." Stiles chuckled. "Thanks Derek."

"No problem. I'm picking you up tomorrow after school. Your dad said he can't get away from the station anymore. We can grab something to eat afterwards too."

"I have a feeling you're going to fatten me up."

"The better to fill me up." Derek said. Stiles laughed out.

"I knew you read that story!"

"Come on, let go downstairs and heat your food." he said. Stiles nodded and shoved the food back in the bag.

"I've been cooped up in my room I feel like dust has collected downstairs. You can carry me downstairs like a princess, Derek."

"Or I can just throw you over my shoulder and carry you down like that."

"I would enjoy that too." Stiles wiggled his eyebrows. Derek blushed. "But come on, I've been hearing from Melissa that you stood in the corner of the room the entire time I was there and 'protected' me. Now complete your knight in shining armor training and carry me down-" Stiles yelped when Derek stood suddenly and scooped the boy in his arms and headed for the door.

Derek glanced at Stiles, and noticed the boy's face flush red.

"Weren't expecting it?"

"Didn't think you'd actually do it, yeah. Thanks though." Stiles tried not to smile, but Derek could tell he wanted to. "I'm plenty distracted now." he gave a small smile.


End file.
